Chloe's Book Reviews {CLOSED/ HIATUS}

A Kiss for Maya

Username: KatherineKeyz

Genre: Teen Fiction

Chapters: 5 chapters

Specific: N/A

Book

Cover -

The cover isn't bad. It's relevant to the genre and consists of the boy and girl from the story.

Blurb -

I thought the blurb was interesting to read and really builds the foundation around your story.
When I review blurbs, I always read it before I do a overview of the chapters, then I go back and re-read the blurb again, and both times I became invested to want to read your book. That's a good start.

Grammar -

From what I read, I didn't find any mistakes relating to grammar. Well done!

Punctuation -

The punctuation was pretty solid. Didn't find any problems.

Character development/ plot -

(Chapter One)

We already get a sense of Maya's personality by how you describe her wanting to get to school early and about how she cares about her grades. I like the little amount of backstory at the beginning as we get to know more about her cousin Lily and their differences.

(Chapter Two)

I like Mason's POV in this chapter more than Maya's at the start of the chapter because nothing really pushes the plot forward in this part, apart from her friend failing History and needing a tutor. I felt like this could be added further along and perhaps start with Mason's POV at the start since they see the girls walking through the main door.

(Chapter Three)

While I love reading each chapter, I do feel like there is something again lacking from this chapter. With the previous chapter we have an introduction to Mason and his friends, having a little insight into his point of view, but in this chapter I felt like there wasn't anything pushing the story forward.

As authors, we have to make use with as little words as possible, but still get the meaning across. If at the end of the chapter nothing happens to push your story foreword, then the chapter isn't necessarily needed. This is why outlining each chapter is important. We already know that Maya has a good relationship with her cousin, Lily, and that she will miss her when she leaves from the previous two chapters.

Example of the outline from this chapter into basic parts:-

Maya gets off the bus and talks to Lily with a little backstory.
Maya meets Bianca at the library. They sit and study for a hour (involves the hour time skip) and then Bianca leaves.
Maya then decides to get the bus.

I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say. Perhaps by adding drama/conflict, raising the stakes or by adding something important/ relevant can help. It's important to make each chapter count otherwise it's a little like a filler chapter.
As always, feel free not to take my advice.

(Chapter Four)

Yes! This chapter was perfect. It had some action, some funny inner dialogue and the meet-cute between Maya and Mason. No issues with this chapter. Great job!

(Chapter Five)

I like how we get a sense that Mason isn't the bad boy type, but he's gotten himself into some trouble and I want to know what it is and you don't give away too much, which is great.

Overall enjoyment-

While some parts were a little cliché, I did really enjoy reading the first five chapters. It's a cute story with some entertaining situations and dialogue.

There isn't anything major that you need to improve on. If I had to be picky, I would say to make sure you had something relevant in each chapter that pushed your story forward. That's it. Great job!

Keep writing & wish you all the
best with your writing journey!

Thank you for requesting the review & I hope it helps you in some way. Please check, "A kiss for Maya," if you have time.